A day without JRRT? I’m beginning to doubt it is possible.

Klasika. Únik.
Únik, jo? Ne tak docela…

An escape from this world to a fantasy, you say? Not quite.

As part of the Ash Wednesday fast I planned to abstain from my favourite music, books and anything connected with them (including trifles such as radio or film versions). Instead of listening of even BBC World Service I put on an MP3 of the late professor Jan Heller, an Old Testament expert and a very wise man. After a few minutes of the talk however I discovered his words were more than similar to those of another professor…

Tak jsem si myslela, že aspoň na Popeleční středu se – v rámci postu – Tolkienovi vyhnu. A ne. Jen ty dva pány profesory srovnejte:

V jedné věci je třeba dávat si veliký pozor:
Když nám kdokoliv cokoliv nabízí, i když po tom touží celá naše duše, musíme se podívat tomu, kdo to nabízí, do tváře. A říci: „Od koho?“ Od Pánaboha smíme přijímat všecko. I utrpení. I bídu. I trápení. Od pokušitele nesmíme přijímat nic, ani to, co se nám zdá v té chvíli nejžádoucnější. Proč? Protože si nás kupuje. (Výklad žalmu 91 z úst prof. Jana Hellera, ČRO – pořad Ranní slovo)
(In one thing utmost caution is needed. Whenever anyone approaches us with an offer of anything, we have to look the person in the eye and ask, “Who is it from?“ From the Lord we can accept everything. Even suffering. Even destitution. Even misery. From the Tempter we must not accept anything, even what seems to us most desirable at the moment. Why? Because he buys us this way.)

…They were once men. Great kings of men. Then Sauron the Deceiver gave to them Nine Rings of Power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question, one by one falling into darkness. Now they are slaves to his will… (Fellowship of the Ring script)
…In the resulting war between Sauron and the Elves Middle-earth, especially in the west, was further ruined. Eregion was captured and destroyed, and Sauron seized many Rings of Power. These he gave, for their ultimate corruption and enslavement, to those who would accept them (out of ambition or greed). (Letters of JRRT)

To je náááhoda. Nebo není?
What a coincidence, eh? Or perhaps no co-incidence at all...